Brick-handling machine.



Cl E. ROSS.

BRICK HANDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILhED MAY I5. 1916. 24,

4 SHEETS-SHEET Il (q1/Wenko@ @narices E. Rems C. E. ROSS.

BRICK HANDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 5I 1916.

Patented July 24, 1917.

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4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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IIIHIIIIIHIIIHNIHIIIHIHIIIH HIIII IHHIIHI lv WVM/Leos C. E. ROSS.

BRICK HANDLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY l5. 1916.

' Patented July 24, 1917.

192349493 A sHEETs IIEEI s (Aarles E. Ross Patented July 24, 1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

C. E. ROSS.

BRICK HANDLING MACHINE.

` APPLICATION FILED MAY 15. 19176. 1,234949v,

wvmwo (hariw E. Ross' onannns BltCK-HANDLING MAGHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented 'July Qd, ist?.

application mea nay 15, 191e. serial ne. 97,501.

To aZZ whom t may .foncer/'11.:

Be it known that l, Cnannns E. Ross a citizen of the United States, residing at olumbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Uhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in .Brick-Handling Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to brick handling machines and is designed particularly as a labor saving means in the productlon of brick.

The main object of my invention resides ,in structures whereby the amount of manual handling is reduced to a m1n1mum,by means of which reduced..

. ln this connection, it is one of the objects of my invention to provide mechanism whereby the green bricks are arranged on the percentage of loss is greatly 'pallets and these pallets in turn arran ed in superposed relation in such manner t at they may be readlly engaged while 1n such superposed relation for transportation to Y' the kiln and also deposited in thev kiln with out being touched by the hands of the workmen.

@ther objects of my invention reside in the structure whereby the 'bricks are placed on the pallets, the bricks and the pallets arranged in superposed relation with each other, and the means for engaging and transporting them alter they have been arranged in such superposed relation. rlhese objects l accomplish by means of the struc tures shown in the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts, and in which: i -v Figure l is an assembly view shown somewhat diagrammatically of the mechanism referred to above,

Fig. 2 is a view inside elevation showing one end of a rotary cutting machine combined with a machine for placing the cut bricks on pallets and moving these pallets onto a conveyor structure,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view showing the pallet delivery machine more in detail,

Fig. d is a section taken on line d-ll of Fig. 3 and looking in the direction of the arrows, v

Fig. is a view ot"- oneoi the details shown in Figs.. 3 and l.,

Fig. 6 is a view of the structure `shown in Fig. 5 and taken right angles thereto,

Fig., 7 is a front view of the conveyor structure used for arranging the pallets and bricks in superposedl relation,

Fig. 8 is a side view of the structure shown in Fig. 7,

Fig. 9 is a cross section taken through the conveyor chains and showing the supporting tray in its proper relation,

Fig. 1G is a front view of the carrier structure used in transporting the bricks and pallets to the kiln,

Fig. 1l. is a section taken on line of Fig. 10, and,

Fig. l2 is a view' in perspective of one of the spacer blocks used for properly spacing the palletsfrom each other.

In Fig. 2, l have shown one end of a ro- 'tary cutting machine of a well known construction, comprising a rotatably mounted gear wheel l, carrying a plurality of rearwardly projecting rods 2 onto one end of which wires 3 are secured. The opposite ends of these Wires are secured'to the rod l which is arranged centrally with respect to the gear wheel l when the gear 'wheel pass through the slots 6, the various sections of which are rigidly held in position by means of brackets 7 also mounted on the shaft 4. As is customary, this machine is mounted in such relation. with the auger machine (not shown) with the clay ribbon coming therefrom, passes in such relation that, 1s turned, these wires 5 of a sectional table over the table 6 and is severed into the proper sections. As is well known, the cutting machine is moved forward at the same rate of speed as the travel of the clay ribbon during the cutting operation and after the cutting operation is again withdrawn to its starting position. rlhe wires 3 are intermittently moved to pass through the clay ribbon, the structure for etlecting this being well known and being conlined within the housing 8 and driven by the gears 9 and l0. rllhe power shaft is shown at ll and is provided with a pulley l2 and pinion 13, the latter being designed to mesh with the teeth-of the gear wheel l and 'being of such.

face that will permit the reciprocatory f movement of the cuttin machine without disengaging the teeth oi this gear l. The mechanism thus tar described is ot well known construction. and does not -form a portion of this invention.

Mounted in cooperative relation with this cutting machine is a pallet delivery' machine shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. This pallet delivery machine comprises a general framework 14 mounted upon" rollers 15. This general framework is rigidly connected withv the cutting machine by means of the tie connection shown at 16, so that movement of the cutting machine will also cause a corre' sponding movement of the pallet delivery machine. The shaft 1l for driving the cutting machine is continued and united with a driving shaft 11a of the pallet delivery machine by means of the squared end shown at 17 and the square socket 18 on' the end of the shaft 11. The speed of the shaft 11 is suitably reduced by means of the gearing confined within the housing 19 and this shaft 11 also carries a bevel pinion 20, which meshes with a'bevel gear 21 mounted. on a shaft 22. This latter shaft is suitably journaled in the framework and also carries a peculiarly shaped cam 23 on its rear end. The purpose of the drive connection thus far related, is to suitably manipulate the table 24 l and the pallets 25, as the latter are placed in position. 'This table plate 24 is rigidly mounted on -a pair of slide members 26 mounted to slide laterally between the two ends of the general framework by means of the rollers 2 After a suitable number of bricks have been forced from the cutting table onto the table 24, the portion 28 of the cam 23 becomes effective to permit the table 24 to be moved toward the left of Fig. 4, in which case the upstanding stationary back plate 29 of the framework causes these bricks to be moved onto the pallet 25 or rather, the pallet 25 is moved toward the left to the position occupied by the table plate 24, as shown in Fig. 4, and the bricks are held against movement by the back plate 29 whereby they are placed upon the pallet. The mechanism for accomplishing this movement is as follows: The shaft 30 extends longitudinally of the pallet delivery machine and is suitably journaled in the framework. This shaft is provided with a pair of rearwardly extending arms 31 on which weights 3l8L are rigidly securedl A pair of levers 33 are also rigidly secured to the shaft 30 and are connected to the member 32 slidably mounted on the slide members 26 abutting the table 24 by means of a connecting link shown at 33a. These weighted arms 31 normally tend to move the table 24 toward the left, the movement 4toward the right being controlled by means of 'the cam 23 and the upstanding arm 34 p'ivotally mounted at its lower end at 35 and also pivotally connected at its upper end as shown at 36 with a link 37. r`This latter link is in turn o eratively mounted intermediate the ends o the lever 33 as is shown at 38. The

34 also rotatably carries a roller 39 intermediate its' ends, which roller cooperates with the surfaces of the cam 23. Thus when rearwardly under the influence of the weights 31a. This movement causes the bricks to be moved onto the pallet 25 and continued rotation of the cam 23 brings the surface 40 into engagement with the roller 39 to move the table 24 and pallet 25 toward the right. This movement is e'ected by means of the rollers 41 mounted on the end of the levers 33 engaging the surfaces 42 of the shoulder members 43 rigidly secured to the underside of the table 24. An inspection of Figs. 5 and 6 will show that the surfaces 42 are interrupted at their upper ends by having a portion cut out as shown at 44 and when the table 24 has been moved to assume the position shown in full lines in Fig. 4, the roller 41 is in a position directly opposite these cut out portions. It will, therefore, appear that continued rotation of the cam 23 will cause the rollers 41 to pass through these cut out portions and leave the table 24 in the position shown to receive the on-coming bricks, but will continue to move the slide member 32 whereby continued movement of the pallet 25 is effected. This continued movement of the pallet is to 'transfer it to a conveyer mechanism, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1 and to permit this continued movement, it is necessary that the pallet should be unlocked. Each of the slide members 26 is provided with a dog 45 pivoted intermediate their ends as shown at 46. One end of each of these dogs is also provided with an upstanding lip 47 and 'the tail portion is provided with a roller 48, which rollers engage the cam surfaces shown at 49. As the table 24 moves toward the left, the rollers 48 will leave surfaces 49 to permit the lips 47 to assume a locked engagement with the pallets 25. Return movement causes these dogs to assume an unlocked position as shown in Fig. 4, as will be readily understood. As soon as these dogs have unlocked the pallet, this pallet is forced off of the slide member 26 as has been related and this movement is accomplished during the time that the cutting machine and, consequently the pallet delivery machine, remains stationary as regards its reciprocating movement or, in other words, it is at the time that the cutting machine has reached one end of its reciprocatory movement.

After one pallet 25 has been removed, an-

other is manually placed in position and this' occurs just after the one removed is forced onto the conveyer structure shown in Figs. l, 7 and 8. This conveyer structure comprises a pair of endless chains 59 passing over sprockets 51 and 52 mounted respectively on shafts, 53 and 54. A plurality of trays 55 are pivotally mounted between fill) .pana with the bricks these chains 50, the bottom portion of each of these trays being offset slightly as is shown at 56. One of these trays is moved to the lrelative position shown in Fig. 1, whereby the pallet is slid onto the same. After this, the crank 57 on the end of a shaft 58 may be turned to in turn cause rotation of the worm 59 which meshes with a worm wheell 60, which latter is mounted on the end of the shaft 54. This crank is turned a distance suhcient to bring the next succeeding tray to a position opposite the pallet delivery machine and each time a thereon is delivered, the conveyer is moved another step whereby the pallets and their bricks are arranged in superposed relation.

After this operation has taken place a sufhcient number of times, the side of the conveyer opposite frgm that to which the pallets are fed, will also be loaded with paland designated by the re lets and bricks, as must be apparent. It is then necessary to remove these pallets and brick and to accomplish this, I have provided the carrier shown in Figs. 1, 10 and 11. This carrier comprises a wheeled base 61 carrying upstanding guide frames 62 adjacent one end. Between these guide frames there is mounted a rack frame formed of side pieces 63 and held spaced by means of the spacer rods 64. Each of these slide frames is provided on its rear edge with a series of teeth 65 and along its front edge with a plurality of forwardly projecting horizontally arranged arms 66. The arms 66 are of a height to fit the offset portions 56 of the trays 55 beneath the pallets supported thereon and are also spaced from each other distances equal to the spacing of the trays 55 on the conveyer chains. The carrier is then moved adjacent the conveyer structure so that the arms 66 enter the offset portions 56 of the trays and a slight elevation of the slide frame 63 caused by turning the crank 67 which operates the worm 68, worm wheel 69 and pinions 70, will lift these pallets with their bricks olf of their respective trays. Movement of the carrierv away from the conveyer structure then entirely frees these pallets from the conveyer and the carrier with its load of bricks and pallets may then be transported to the kiln or any other desired locality, the carrier in the present instance being shown as provided with a counter-weight 71 to prevent overbalancing becauseof the added Weight of bricks and pallets. After these pallets have been thus removed from the conveyer, the blocks shown in pers ective in Fig. 12

erence numeral 72 are placed on the pallets to maintain them 1n proper spaced relation. Should it then be` l desired to deposit these bricks and pallets, the crank 67 is turned to lower the slide the lowermost block 72 :with the floor,

frames 63 until the lowermost block 72 engages the door, in which position they will sustain the entire weight of the superposed bricks and pallets and consequently, the arms 66 will come out of engagement with lthe underside of each of the pallets. The carrier may then be withdrawn and returned to the conveyer structure for another load. Y

From the foregoing description, taken in connection wth the accompanying sheets of drawings, it will be apparent that I have provided an arrangement of structures whereby it is unnecessary for the workmen to themselves handle the brick. In this manner, the edges do not become broken and a vast saving is eii'ected.

The operation is as follows, briefly stated. The clay ribbon is forced over the cutting table and cut into bricks in the usual mannerand these bricks eventually are forced onto the table'24 of the pallet delivery machine. The table 24 is moved toward the left of Fig. 4 under the influence of the weights 31a when the roller 40 passes over the portion28 of the cam 23. This causes the bricks vto be forced onto the pallet 25 and this pallet is held locked on the slide members 26 by means of the pivoted dogs 45. Continued rotation of the cam 23 moves the table 24 toward the right until the rollers 41 on the ends of the arms 33 register with the cut-out portions 44 of the members 43. When these rollers do register, they pass through 'these cut-out portions to permit the table 24 to remain stationary, but to continue the movement of the pallet 25 toward the ri ht. This pallet is then forced onto one o the trays of the conveyer structure and after the conveyer structure has received the same, the crank 57 is rotated to bring the succeeding tray to an upright position adjacent the pallet delivery machine. This operation is continued and eventually the right hand side of the conveyer structure becomes loadedwith bricks and pallets as well as the left hand side.

he carrier structure is then moved to a position to bring the arms 66 beneath the pallets and these pallets are removed from the conveyer structure by a slight elevation of the arms 66 caused by turning the crank 67. The carrier is then withdrawn from the position adjacent the conveyer structure and the blocks 72 placed in position.

After this, the lcarrier may be moved to the kiln and after the framework 63 has been lowered a distance into engagement the arms 66 are relieved of the weight of the superposed arrangement of pallets and bricks and the carrier may then be withdrawn. In this manner, the

suicient to bring bricks may be carried to .the kiln in properly spaced relation ready for firing without having been touched by the workmen.

What I claim, is; V

1. The combination with a cutting machine over which a clay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks and movable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the sameplane with said table, means for forcing the cut bricks from said table onto said pallet, means for locking said pallet in its receiving position, means operable to unlock said pallet after the bricks have been placed-thereon, and means for feeding the pallet and bricks away from l said table after the pallet has been unlocked.

`2. The combination with a cutting machine over which a clay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks andmovable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the same plane with said table, means for forcing the cut bricks from said table onto said pallet, means for locking said pallet in its receiving position, means automatically operable to unlock said pallet after the bricks have been placed thereon, and means for then continuing the movement of the pallet but leaving said table stationary.

3. The combination vwith. a cutting lmachine over which a clay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of -a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks and movable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the same plane with said table, a stationary back plate, means for moving said table beneath and to the 4rear of said back plate, said pallet being also movable with said table, and means for removing said pallet and bricks after the table has been returned to its normal position.

4. The combination with a cutting machine over which a clay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks and movable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the same plane with said table, means for locking the pallet and table in such relation, a stationary back plate, means for moving said table beneath and to the rear of said back plate its full width with the pallet locked to it, and means for automatically unlocking the pallet and table upon return of the table to normal position.

5. The combination with a cutting machine over which a clay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks and movable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the same plane with said table, means for locking the pallet and table in such relation, a stationary back plate, means for moving said table beneath and to the rear of said back plate its full Width with the pallet locked to it, means for automatically unlocking the pallet and table upon return of the table to normal position, and means for continuing the movement of said pallet but leaving said table stationary.

6. The combination with a cutting machine over which aclay ribbon moves and is cut into bricks, of a pallet delivery machine comprising a table for receiving the bricks and movable transversely of the clay ribbon, means for supporting a pallet in front of and in the same plane with said table, a slide plate between said table and pallet, a stationary back plate, a lever pivoted at one end, a roller at its other end, a link connection between said last named end and said slide plate, means whereby the roller end of said lever is moved rearwardly to move said table beneath said back plate, said table and pallet being locked together with said slide plate between them, a shoulder member carried by said table having a trackway for said roller, said trackway being notched out at its top, and means whereby said pallet is unlocked from said table at the time said roller reaches said notched out part to permit continued movement of the pallet but leaving the table stationary.

In testimon whereof I aiiix my signature in presence o two Witnesses.

CHARLES E. ROSS.

Witnesses:

C. C. SHEPHERD, J. M. CLARK. 

